Scything the Opposition
by OmegaTitan177
Summary: Jaune never was good with a sword. Lucky for him the Arcs own many weapons


**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

 _Thinking/Flashback_

"Speaking"

 **Special Noises/Important Text**

 **Beacon Academy**

"How was I supposed to know I get motion sick" Jaune muttered.

Jaune wiped his mouth off cursing. He then realized that the bullhead was empty and quickly grabbed his duffel bag with his many-great's grandfather's scythe. As Jaune got to the courtyard he heard a **boom** and saw a girl in red opposite of one in white across a crater. _Man, glad that's not me._ After thinking it over he realized he should go help the one in red seeing as Little White, _Thinking of nicknames so soon, down, boy down,_ already had hired help working on the luggage.

Ruby She looked up seeing a hand reaching for her and took it.

"Hi, My name's Jaune Arc. Short and easy to remember. What's yours?" the newly christened Jaune asked.

"Ruby Rose. Thanks for helping." replied Ruby "but, why would you help a stranger?"

"Thats easy. For one we're not strangers anymore," Jaune said "and Little White already had help."

They started walking and chatting about 'Little White' and the explosion. When Jaune and Ruby neared a fountain she thought _I wanna see what he uses as a weapon. Maybe if I show him darling he'll show me his weapon_.

"So, this is Crescent Rose" Ruby said as she pulled her weapon out and twirled it around her.

Jaune set down his duffel and pulled out his scythe and replied by whirling the black scythe around him and in the air saying "This is my many great grands grandfather's scythe. Furvus Mors."

Ruby's jaw dropped before quickly shooting around him babbling "Oh my god. I thought only Uncle Qrow and I used scythes. How good are you. This is amazing. Can I see it?"

He simply held a hand up and watched her vibrate in excitement before replying with "Calm down Ruby. Yes, you can see it."

He handed the scythe to her, holding onto the plain black handle just a little too long. Ruby noticed as she took it from him, and gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'll be gentle."

 _Shouldn't I be the one to say that?_ Great, and cue the perverted thoughts. Hell, she didn't even look legal. Wait…

"How old are you?" A flustered look came over her face, and she almost dropped Mors.

"Look, I didn't asked to be moved up! I can't help it that everyone is older than me! It's not my fault-"

"Relax! I was just curious." The red slowly faded from her face, but the cute pout remained. Her eyes turned back to the black scythe in her hand, and she carefully ran her fingers along the crook, where the snatch gently curved between the bottom grip and the blade.

"I'm fifteen." Two years? What did she do to get moved up? Then again, he belonged here even less than she did. He thought to the slightly curled papers he had clutched to his chest three weeks ago before he had pushed them into an envelope and the mail slot.

He looked to Ruby to pull himself from his depressing thoughts. Her silver eyes had gone wide, and her fingers had gone up to the blade itself, lightly fluttering over the tang, the beard, the belly and finally to the tip. Before he could warn her, she had pressed her finger against the tip.

"Wait!"

"Ouch!" She pulled her finger back, sticking it in her mouth. She hadn't pushed very hard. Jaune's weapon was very sharp. Hard too, the blade had no bend or give. Ruby felt like her sister would be snickering at this point, but she wasn't quite sure why. Yang always seemed to get hung up on boys and their weapons, which didn't make any sense! Boys had to fight too!

Wincing Jaune said "Sorry, that was my fault. I should have told you."

"No, it's fine. Qrow always tells me that I need to treat weapons for what they are, and not like toys."

"Who's Qrow?"

"He's my uncle. He uses a scythe too; well, it's really more of a greatsword, but it has these sections and hydraulics, and it curves into a scythe, but only when he wants it to. That would be awkward, can you imagine if your sword went floppy in the middle of a battle?" A snicker from Jaune broke Ruby's increasing speed. She was happy, cause she finally got to breathe, even if she hadn't known that she'd still needed to do that, but she was mad, cause she didn't know what was so funny.

"What's so funny?"

"I'll tell you when you're older." She pouted again, and Jaune couldn't help but smile. Ruby was pretty adorable, in a little sister kind of way. _Way to friendzone her right off the bat._ Jaune had to remind himself that she still wasn't legal, and she was too young, and he shouldn't be thinking about her like that since they just met! _Killjoy._

"So yeah. This is Furvus Mors."

"You already said that."

"I know! But the conversation wasn't really moving so I just felt like filling the dead air..." was that an awkward thing to say? It probably was. Hell, and he'd started to like talking to Ruby.

"Oh! What do the designs mean?!" Ruby clutched at the new conversation topic like a drowning man to a rope.

"Um... I don't really know." _Please, Please take the excuse._

"What's it made of?"

 _Oh thank god._ "I don't know that either. Sorry."

"It's okay. It looks really cool, though." And indeed it did. Furvus Mors differed from Crescent Rose in several ways: it was all one solid piece of... something. Ruby would have thought it was wood, but it was too heavy, and wood would never be able to hold an edge like this obviously did. It wasn't metal, either, because it was way too light, and she didn't know of any metal that could absorb light like this.

Since it was all one connected piece, the scythe had no tang, but strangely enough, the beard was still disconnected from the snath, or handle, but that funny little dip. She couldn't remember what to call it. There wasn't a grass nail, though, so it definitely wasn't just a really pretty garden implement. The snatch was also curved, whereas Crescent's was straight, so it _did_ look more like a regular, old scythe.

And all the way up and down the snatch, and all across the blade, there were these really intricate carvings...engravings? She had to twist it in the light to begin to seem them because they were so shallow, and because the whole things was such a deep black.

"Cool. Thanks." She handed it back to him, and he dropped it into the makeshift sling/holster/sheath thing that had come with it on his back. The problem with a weapon that doesn't mecha-shift was that he had to carry the cumbersome thing around in its constant state of hugeness. Which made doorways tricky, on occasion.

"Wait. What does your uncle look like?"

"Uh." Ruby paused for a moment thinking. "He has spiky black hair and red eyes with a permanent scruffy beard. He's also is what sis called perpetually smashed and dresses in a gray dress shirt, black dress pants and black dress shoes. Why?"

Jaune snapped before replying. "Oh. He's the one that told me to use a scythe instead of a sword! My dad had started training me to get ready to go to a hunter school."

 **Flashback: Jaune age 10**

" _Again." Atticus Arc told Jaune._

 _It had been about two month since Atticus had started Jaune on sword training but to Atticus' frustration his son soon proved to be inept to say the least._ Jaune might as well use a stick with how he holds a sword. _Then an idea struck Atticus._ If he can't use a sword maybe Jaune can use a staff. _With this thought in mind, Jaune's father found a suitable pair of sticks in the forest._

 _In a week Jaune showed more improvement than his entire sword training but even to the Arc's youngest Annie, Jaune was missing something. This drew Atticus' ire to no end and he told so to the pub as he vented with the help of some alcohol. As he finished a man came up to him and said it sounded like the problem his niece was having. When Atticus asked him what he did the man simply asked Atticus to show up at the local training grounds with him and his son ready for a spar._

 _The next day, having arrived early Atticus decided to warm up with a spar._

 _After knocking Jaune's staff out of his hands for the third time a voice interrupted._

" _Yep, just like I thought. Your kid would be better off with a scythe. And with that my work here is done." The man had apparently watched them spar for the whole time they were there but before Atticus could get the man's name he had left._

 _Atticus turned to Jaune "Well, At least we solved that problem. Now if I remember correctly there is a scythe somewhere in the armory."_

 **Flashback end**

"You know, I always wondered what his name was." Jaune finished his tale while rubbing his chin. " And now I do. When you see him next can you tell him I said thanks?"

"Sure." Ruby replied " Uh, do you know where the assembly hall is?"

"No. I was following you."

They both scrambled off the fountain to get to the assembly hall.

After a bracingly short message from the headmaster, Jaune went to his assigned locker to store his things for the night. As he put his bag away he wondered if he should sleep with his cloak or not. _Ah, screw it, might as well take Furvus too_ and with that Jaune went to the ballroom.

 **3rd Person**

Those closest to the entry froze, as a mysterious figure in a black floor length cloak with a scythe covered in strange, euclidean runes. For a brief moment they thought the Grim Reaper had come to take their souls. The Figure continued to the middle of the room where it took off his hood and waved to a girl. This gave relief to the initiates and dispelled any worries.

 **Normal**

As Jaune walked through the ballroom he spotted Ruby and took off his hood to wave to her. Ruby seeing him wave, waved him over.

"Hey, Jaune. Whats with the cloak?," Ruby said, "I mean, having a scythe and a cloak was kinda my thing."

"Oh, Ah," Jaune fumbled for a moment, "Well the cloak was wrapped around Furvus when I got him and I wasn't wearing it because it got hot when I was in the bullhead. Oh Furvus also has this cool mask that looks really intimidating."

"Hey, Ruby. It scythes to me that you found a friend," Punned Yang as she looked over, "So, what's with the copy cat?"

Everyone near Yang cringed before Jaune replied, " Hi, I'm Jaune Arc, short and easy to remember. I mean if I can remember it, you can too."

"Ouh," The fellow blond winced, "low blow, man, low blow."

Ruby noticed under Jaune's cloak he was wearing just pants and saw a large scar going from his right shoulder to his left hip.

"What's with the scar Jaune?," Ruby wondered

"Oh, this? I got this when i first started training with Furvus Mors," Jaune replied to Ruby, "Whelp, Goodnight Ruby. See you tomorrow."

With this Jaune went up the stairs and found a secluded corner to sleep against.

 **Initiation Day**

Jaune wandered around looking for his locker when he heard some voices.

Seeing two girls he decided to introduce himself but before he did Jaune overheard them talking about making teams.

"Hi, I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet and easy to remember," Jaune barged into the conversation, "So, I heard you talking about teams. Who'd like to join?"

"No and she's out of your league." Weiss Rebuffed

Jaune turned to the other girl, repeated himself and asked what her name is.

"You idiot. She's Pyrrha Niko and she graduated at the top of her class from Sanctum academy," Weiss replied before Pyrrha could.

"Ok but I was homeschooled so I don't know what that is," Jaune said and turned back to Pyrrha, "Good job though, it sounds important."

Visibly frustrated Weiss spouted another fact, "She also is the 4 time champion of Minstral tournaments."

"I should probably mention I grew up outside the walls, so again, I don't know what that is. Sounds really hard but most tournaments are against people and not Grimm. So you could be the tournament champion and not do a thing against Grimm."

At Jaune's comment Pyrrha's eyes started to sparkle. Seeing this caused Jaune to think back to all the times Bad Things happened when his sisters got that look in their eyes. _Shit. Code Red, Code Red. This is not a drill people. Move, Move, Move._ Acting quickly Jaune found his locker and spouted off an excuse to quickly leave.

Then Miss Goodwitch announced for them to go to the cliffs for Initiation.

 **Beacon Cliffs**

Taking his place next to Ruby on the launch pads, Jaune greeted her and showed her his mask.

"Whoa. That's so cool!," Ruby said

"And it also does this thing to my voice when I put it on."

"Really?! Put it on! How does it do it? Does it use dust at all. Oh sorry I'm babbling again," Ruby rushed out

"Okay, Okay," Jaune soothed putting the mask on and his hood up, " **How do I sound now?... Ruby?** " His voice was now a deep growl with odd reverberations that sent chill down her spine

Ruby didn't respond as she was frozen in fear. In the background Ozpin continuing his instructions, glanced at Jaune and falter in his speech for a moment at seeing a figure straight from a nightmare. When he reached the part about partnering his announcement startled Ruby and caused her to yelp, "What?" Ozpin reached the end of his speech and Miss Goodwitch sent them on their way.

Midair Jaune saw a javelin heading towards him. So he twisted out of the way and grabbed it. This turned out to be a bad idea as it jerked him and slammed him into a tree. _Great, Not only has it pinned me by my sleeve but grabbing this thing also dislocated my shoulder_. " **Aaagh, This sucks so badly.** "

Awhile later, the bushes parted to reveal Weiss. Who upon seeing Jaune, not knowing it was him, immediately turned around back into the bushes. After this Pyrrha arrived and hesitated before seeing her weapon holding a person up.

" **Hey Pyrrha. Could you please remove your javelin from my sleeve?"**

Letting the person down she asked "Jaune?"

" **That's me. Uh, when I grabbed your javelin it also dislocated my shoulder; could you help me with that?,** " replied Jaune before removing his mask and hood.

Pyrrha gasped before rushing over babbling sorry over and over.

After they relocated his shoulder, Jaune said, "Thanks and I guess we're partners now." before grinning ruefully.

"Now my mask has a weird effect on my voice as you heard but it should make finding me easier," Jaune stated before wincing as his shoulder twinged.

"Has your aura not healed your shoulder yet," Pyrrha questioned

Jaune rubbed his head with his good arm before replying, "My dad said the teachers would unlock my aura but I guess that's not how it goes."

"Well then. I will do it for you," Pyrrha said, "Now hold still and concentrate."

Pyrrha put her hand on his face before concentrating, "For it is in Passing we Achieve Immortality, Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, Infinite in Distance and Unbound by Death, I Release your Soul and by my Shoulder Protect thee."

She stumbled for a moment as Jaune glowed brightly.


End file.
